Design Sprints propelling innovation at the Ministry of Justice

The Plastics Cloud – How a unique collaboration between technology and design thinking is pointing to new ways of reducing plastic waste.

Having been producer on Design Thinkers Academy London courses for the past three years, I recently had the opportunity to attend Bootcamp as a delegate.

What makes a leader, what is the role of leaders, can one become a leader? Questions that have moved humanity from the get go, to which the answers have changed over time.

It can be perilous to adopt an “if you build it, they will come” mentality. Too often, organizations jump straight into ideation and prototyping without understanding whom a product is for or what problem it is solving.

It’s a very human need to try to make things better, to be nicer to people and to make more money. In simple terms that’s what’s behind the increase in corporate and highly commercial organisations seeking people to fill a new role in their management structure; the Service Designer. Resourcer Madelaine Cooper explains.

Remember that bit of business psychology called The Halo Effect? Recruiter Madelaine Cooper isn’t talking about divine apparitions, but the fact that if an organisation appears to be attractive from the outside it can predispose candidates to overlook any negatives. If it was true it would be easy to get brilliant people to work for you.

How can we encourage creative thinking when arts and culture are systematically being removed from the education system? Recruiter and business adviser, Madelaine Cooper, discusses the importance of adding disciplines that promote creativity to the school curriculum to ensure that future leaders will be able to think independently.

Design thinking is being touted as a link between the traditional world of work and modern creative practice, driver of growth in cities around the world. Ezri Carlebach finds out more and chats to Adrian Fey from the Creative World Forum 2017 in up-coming city Aarhus, Denmark.

Design has its own particular culture, just as business does. And so do ‘sub-cultures’ like 1970s punk rock. This might sound like the start of a corny joke, but what would happen if a punk rock band, an anthropologist and a couple of MBAs walked into a bar? And how does it help organisations to solve problems? Ezri Carlebach sets off to find the punch line.